President Donald Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul are expected to speak with each other again next week about the congestion pricing tolls that have been imposed on vehicles entering Manhattan’s Central Business District (CBD), according to reports. It’s believed that Trump and Hochul have had two conversations about Congestion Pricing and Trump’s pledge to kill the new tolls that went into effect early this month on drivers entering the Manhattan CBD at 60th Street.
Sources indicate that Trump has tried to convince Hochul to end the program on her own even though several times during his campaign for president he promised to kill Congestion Pricing if he became president.
“I’m glad to see that President Trump is seriously considering ending Kathy Hochul’s Congestion Pricing Cash Grab,” Republican Congressman Mike Lawler said. Lawler represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which includes Rockland County, Putnam County and portions of Westchester and Dutchess counties.
“When I met with him both at Mar-a-Lago and at the White House in recent weeks, he reiterated his support for reversing this absurd, regressive tax on cops, firefighters, teachers, EMTs, nurses, and other New Yorkers just trying to get to work,” Lawler said. “The MTA needs to get its fiscal house in order, including collecting on the billions in missing tolls and fares it fails to collect. Until the MTA shows it’s capable of handling its finances in an accountable manner, they shouldn’t get to take one more cent out of the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers going to work.”
In separate moves on Capitol Hill, New Jersey Democrat Congressman Josh Gottheimer, Republican Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Republican Nicole Malliotakis of New York, have introduced bills that they hope would end Congestion Pricing.
The legislation includes The Anti-Congestion Tax Act, which prohibits the Department of Transportation (DOT) from awarding any new grants to MTA projects in New York until drivers from all New Jersey and New York crossings into Manhattan receive exemptions from any Congestion Pricing tolls.
There also is The Make Transportation Authorities Accountable and Transparent Act, which requires the Office of Inspector General at the DOT to conduct a full audit of the MTA to see how it has spent billions in federal assistance over the past five years.
There also is The Economic Impact of Tolling Act, requiring an economic impact analysis is completed and made available to the public.
It’s reported that Hochul told Trump that the MTA’s statistics show that Congestion Pricing has been a success since it began Jan. 5 and that the number of vehicle trips into Manhattan’s CBD has been reduced by one million. The MTA also shows that travel times on tunnels and bridges leading into the city have been cut by 10% to 30%. The MTA did not release statistics to show the amount of money that has been collected from the new tolls.
